iOS 4.2 golden master brings final iPad tweaks before release

The official release of iOS 4.2 is looming. iPad users will finally be able to …

iOS 4.2 has officially gone golden master and has been seeded to developers for final testing before its release to throngs of iPad owners. Though many of the features in iOS 4.2 are already well known, there are still a few new tidbits in the latest version.

All the expected stuff is there that iPhone and iPod touch users have had for months now: Apple's version of multitasking, the ability to group apps into folders on the dashboard, new music controls, a software screen rotation lock, an updated Mail app, Game Center, and more. Also new with iOS 4.2 for iPad comes AirPrint—the ability to print pages to a number of supported printers on a WiFi network—as well as AirPlay, Apple's solution for streaming content to an AirPlay-ready device, such as speakers or the new Apple TV.

On top of these updates, however, there have been a few tweaks between iOS 4.2 beta 3 and the GM. For one, there's now a system-wide brightness control in the multitasking bar, to the left of the audio controls and to the right of the software screen rotation lock. Previously, users had to dig into their iPad settings to change the overall brightness of the device, and many third-party apps ended up building in their own versions of brightness controls to make it easier on the user. Now with the easy-to-access slider, it should lighten the load on developers and users alike when they need to make adjustments.

From left to right: screen rotation lock, brightness, media controls, volume, and app you're currently running

Because Apple is adding the software screen rotation lock to the iPad with this update, the company has decided to change the screen rotation switch on the side of the device back to a mute switch (boo, hiss). If this weren't annoying enough for those of us who use the iPad in nonstandard positions, the iOS 4.2 GM mysteriously does not seem to allow the mute switch to actually mute anything (Update: we've been informed that it only mutes notification sounds, making it even less useful than previously thought). We tried this with YouTube and Apple's own Video player with no apparent result; AppleInsider and some of my Twitter followers seem to be experiencing the same thing (though others are not). And this is a GM? All we can say is that we hope Apple decides to make this switch functional for something—anything—sometime soon.

PCWorld also pointed out that the GM now appears to have MIDI APIs. This isn't very exciting news to the casual user—remember back when we used to listen to MIDI files before MP3s became popular?—but musicians will likely be interested. Why? Because MIDI support is key when it comes to music creation and learning tools; it can be used to write out music notation as you're playing something on an instrument, and play back a piece of music from the notes instead of an audio recording.

Finally, as noted by MacRumors, Apple has changed the MobileMe setup screen so that you can log in with an Apple ID. MobileMe accounts are not typically associated with an Apple ID, but the change indicates that Apple is trying to tie them together for easy setup and authentication. And, although this appears to have been added to a previous beta, Apple appears to have added car stereo support to the iPad, which is demoed in this YouTube video.

Apple has also put out a call to developers to start submitting their iOS 4.2 apps so that they're available at launch, indicating that the update may come down the tubes sooner than later. If I were a betting woman, I wouldn't be surprised to see it show up in iTunes within the next week or so, though Apple does have a few weeks of leeway if it wants to make some last-minute tweaks before the final release.

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Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui